I envision MLS reaching completion as a 20 team league in the top flight, i dunno if there would be a lower flight or not, ,but i just don't think american fans are loyal enough for lower level clubs to survive. Anyway, 20 teams divided into east and west conference (10 teams each) and then again into 4 divisions of 5 teams (similar to NBA or the way NHL used to be). Teams play other teams in their division 4 times (4 teams x 4 games = 16 games), teams in their conference but not division twice (5 teams x 2 games = 10 games) and teams from the other conference once (10 teams x 1 game = 10 games) for a total of 36 matches. main game day would still be saturday, but not exclusive. Matches in eastern and central timezone would be played AT 8 PM ET, and mountain and pacific would be played at 10 pm ET, would all be covered regionally on a fox sports net affiliate, but with national range (similar to their coverage of college football) Saturday and sunday afternoon matches, sat on espn, sun on abc, both 4pm et. midweek games would be necessary on occasion, played exclusively on wednesdays at 8pm or 10 pm et depending on time zone. playoffs. each division champion qualifies for quarterfinals. then, next four in each conference (3-6 seeds essentially) play one leg wild-card matches for entrance into the quarterfinals (6 at 3, 5 at 4). if tied after 90, 30 minute non golden goal extra time, then penalties. Quarters and semis are both 2 leg aggregate, with higher seeds getting home second leg. no away goals, if tied after 180, 30 minute extra time (non golden goal), then penalties. One game final at neurtal site, if tied after 90, then 30 minutes non golden goal, then penalties In world cup year, regular season could come down from 36 to 28 matches by way of eliminating 4 division structure for that year and playing with just 2 10 team conferences. Playoffs would eliminate wild card, instead sending top 4 from each conference into quarters, and season could take 6 week break during the pre world cup and world cup period. Seaons would start second to last full weekend in march. Final would be thankgiving friday at 4pm on abc (Screw college football!)
Single Table - 20 teams DC MetroStars New England Columbus Chicago LA SJ Colorado Dallas Kansas Philadelphia Seattle Rochester Oklahoma Houston Cleveland Portland Tampa Bay Minnesota Carolina Home and Homes w/ every team - 38 Games 2011 season Season starts Feb 6, ends Oct 22 with Saturday Night Prime Time Final Top 8 teams in playoffs home and home series Final 1 game The season would start in February to fill the Sunday void left by the end of the NFL season, efforts would be made to have the first couple weeks played in more temperate locations.
I'll give it a go..... Single Table - 18 teams in MLS...hopefully it will merge wit the rest of the USL system and we can go from there with a relegation type system (people might not like that but that is what i want dammit!....but here is the top flight. Metro NY Cosmos (Yes....they will come back) DC United New England Columbus Chicago Los Angeles San Jose Colorado Dallas Kansas City Philadelphia Seattle Rochester Tulsa Houston Cleveland Portland Every team will have it's own soccer only stadium. Home and Homes w/ every team - 34 Games 2010 season Season starts Feb ends Oct. with Final on Saturday afternoon. Top 8 teams in playoffs, two leg aggregate system, one game final.
Since the way MLS is structured with franchises, here is what I forsee. MLSA and MLSB MLSA has 18 teams playing a home and home for a total of 34 games. MLSB has 16 teams playing a home and home, a total of 30 games. The top two MLSB teams are promoted and the bottom two MLSA teams are releaged. The US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup are taken seriously by all teams. The date of the CCC is moved one month later. Stadium Control is essential for expansion. I would love all teams to have a SSS, but very favorable deals with larger stadiums is possible. Here are the 34 cities: NY NE DC Columbus KC Dallas Chicago SJ LA Chicago Seattle Rochester Philadelphia Richmond New Orleans Houston San Antonio St. Louis Portland Indianapolis Nashville Raleigh San Diego Miami Pittsburgh Milwaukee Minneapolis SLC Phoenix Hartford Oklahoma City Tulsa Sacramento Birmingham, AL Monday night Soccer live on ABC, coverage of two games a saturday, one afternoon the other in the evening.
30 Team League w/ 6 divisions 2 conferences: Teams play 28 game schedule against other teams in same conference. 8 teams from each conference make playoffs - two legged series. Conference champs meet in MLS Super Cup on grounds of previous year's cup winner. Additional dates available for expanded CCC, US Open Cup, Copa Liberatodores (hoping), and NAFTA Nations Cup. And before anyone slags on me for having divisions - look at Mexico. Last time I checked they have divisions and playoffs. Eastern Conference: Atlantic: Metros (Harrison) DCU New England New York City (Olympic Stadium - downsized) Philly (Alternate: Baltimore, Trenton) North: New England Columbus Rochester Detroit Cleveland (Alternates: Pittsburgh, Cincy, Indy) Southeast: Florida 1 Florida 2 Richmond or North Carolina Alabama or Missisippi Kentucky or Tennessee Western Conference: Central: Chicago Minnesota Kansas City St Louis Milwaukee Southwest: Dallas Colorado Houston Oklahoma - Tulsa or OKC or Edmond Albuquerque (Alternates: Phoenix, Salt Lake City) Pacific: San Jose Los Angeles San Diego or Orange County Portland Seattle (Alternates: Sacto or Oakland/San Francisco, Las Vegas, Central Valley) Other changes: Eliminate overtime. I was intitially for it, but I don't think the two periods concept works well at all. Player signings: Players now sign contracts w/ individual teams, not leagues. Free agency: Allow free agency. Players can sign w/ any MLS team. Salary cap - keep w/ modifications. Teams are allowed to re-sign all their own players and draftees, but can't bring in anyone else until they get back below a pre-determined level. Playoff bonuses - Establish bonus pool for teams winning playoffs series. Bonuses go up for each successive round. Salary cap - Needs to be raised. Obviously. Hopefully increased revenues from SSS and new expansion fees will allow for increase.
No team in Detroit? There would probably be two teams in Chicago, three or more in New York and LA (in LA, I always imagined a "Club America de Los Angeles" which would be supported by mostly Hispanic fans, and the Galaxy for the Anglos, in the USA version of the Old Firm). I'd like to see two conferences, each with 20 teams. They'd play only the teams in their own conference in the normal, home-and-home round-robin league system, but have a League Cup (I mean, the original MLS trophy is just sitting there!), the first round of which would be seeded by the previous year's finish 1W vs. 20E, 1E vs. 20W, and so on, with established brackets. There would also be the USOC. The two conference winners would meet in a home-and-home Final to determine the league champion. This was supposed to be a "dream" thread, right? I mean, I don't want people getting the idea that I think that this could ever actually happen.
18 team league / 3 conferences (x 6 teams) Western: LA, SJ, Seattle, Portland, SD, Colorado Central: Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma, Chicago, KC, Minnesota Eastern: NY/NJ, Phila, NE, DC, Detroit, Columbus 32 game schedule: (5 x 4) 20 conference games, (12 x 1)12 non-conference. 18 teams should be the cap on the league, and if there seems to be a further demand for expansion than MLS should co-opt the A-League, and issue expansion teams to the A-League where they would have to earn promotion to MLS. <-- I'm not a big pro-rel nut, but it would be good if MLS would avoid the mistakes of baseball and hockey with respect to over-expansion. The bottom feeders can bounce between leagues instead of sucking in the same league every year. This would also help build the A-League infrastructure too. Teams/cities in A-League markets would be more inclined to support/build SSSs in smaller markets with the possibility of promotion a reality. 8 team playoffs, best of three/regular season finish-home field advantage applies. 4 team relegation playoff, 2 teams relegated.
My disclaimer comes first. My dreams are often so bizarre (certainly bereft of the laws of physics) that they are just hard to bring down to earth. Therefore, I've learned to add liberal doses of reality, to the point where my advocacy is more along the lines of "what we can get away with" rather than "what I'd love to see." I'd take yellow's 18-team, 3-conference set up for "Division 1" (probably named for Anschutz, Rothenberg, Donovan, or whomever... stay tuned on that one). The second division would be broken up into regional leagues along the lines of the divisions in the top flight. I don't envision a third division, and PDL will likely be the place where all the reserve teams are located. Two divisions is about all I can see America being able to handle (I'd love for that to be wrong). One team in each top division is "eligible" for relegation. The champion of each lower regional league must meet certain guidelines for promotion, or the switch is automatically called off. Guidelines: Availability of a stadium at, at worst, reasonable lease terms, ability to control stadium scheduling "sufficiently" for league and cup matches, and a fee equivalent to today's expansion fee (unless, maybe, they were already in the top flight at some point)- the funds must be proven to be available within one week of winning the regional league. If the promotable team meets the qualifications, then the eligible relegation candidate meets the eligible promotion candidate, home-and-home, winner is up, loser is down. You think the promotion playoffs in England are compelling... That's about the only way I ever see pro/rel working in America, anyway, and that ignores the possibility that leagues all over the world will end up following the "American" structure for sports leagues. Barring that, I'm not sure that MLS can ever practically have more than 16 teams in 4 regional divisions, playing everyone out of division twice and in division four times.
While I would love a single table with 20 teams, it is never going to happen here in USA. Sounds good. Here are my 4 divisions: East DC United Metrostars Revolution Philadelphia Rochester MidEast Chicago Columbus Detroit St. Louis Atlanta MidWest Kansas City Dallas Colorado Houston Oklahoma West Los Angeles San Jose San Diego Seattle Portland
How could those "efforts" be fair? If you have teams like New England play more away games at the season start, do you think the slow start for those teams would be balanced by more home games towards the season's end? Some people in LA this year might say no.
Americans will want their big event final for many years to come. They expect that in sports of any kind. Playoffs will be here for at least 20 years.
My only complaint with allowing small market teams in the league is that what happens when single entity dissappears and each team is actually competing against each other for players for real. Will a team in Oklahoma actually be able to compete financially with a team in LA or NY? Are there any foreigners that would want to sign with an Oklahoma instead of a NY or LA? All these famous players that are always rumored to come to MLS always involve a big market teams. And the ones that have come in the past (donadoni) are always tied to a Large market club because atleast they have heard of NY or LA. There is no way in hell that even if a player with the recognition of a Beckham would EVER consider playing for an Oklahoma team. I know I'm getting ahead of myself and sorry to be bashing Oklahoma but I think this will eventually be a problem if we build or league with lots of small market teams. It will work in single entity because each team currently benefits from the others, but once it is true competition between the teams, all gloves are off....Just thinking... Nate
This is it! Keeping SEM... 32 team in MLS MLS National Division (really the First Division) 16 teams- home and away=30 games MLS American Division (really the Second Division) 16 teams - home and away = 30 games This is sneaky way around two facts, FIFA will only let 20 teams in the first division, but the USA can support a league with well more than 20 teams. I would like to use American League and National League, but baseball already has those. Also, American Confrence and National Confrence, but ditto for the NFL. The key is not to call them 1st and 2nd division or otherwise downgrade MLS American because no one wants to be "minor league." Top Eight teams in MLS National go to the MLS Cup Playoffs - keep the playoffs like they are now. Winner of MLS American is promoted, teams 2-5 go to playoffs with winner also promoted. US Open Cup with 64 teams, each first round game has a MLS team in it. A MLS League Cup could also could be added to increase the number of game between the two divisions. Or some other form of interleague play inorder to give respect to MLS American.
The Green Bay Packers haven't fared too badly. For that matter, the Columbus Crew have been getting better attendance numbers than a lot of teams in larger markets. Sometimes it's nice to be the biggest pro team in town.
18 teams in 2 confrences: East: Metrostars NYC DC United Atlanta Rochester Toronto/Montreal NE Revoluton Columbus Crew Penn West: Colorado Rapids LA Galaxy SJ Earthquakes Chicago Fire KC Wizards Dallas Burn Houston Oklahoma Seattle 4 games against each in confrence team and one game against interconfrence team=42 games Playoffs: 6 teams with top 2 from each confrence and 2 wildcards. the confrence leaders get first round bye. the second place confrence teams to play the wildcard teams at home in one game playoff round.final four too be home and away. MLS Cup remains one game Salary Cap around 10-20 million. TV: MLS Soccer Saturday with regional coverage on NBC. any teams not on NBC on a given week go to local Fox Sports affiliate.MLS Sunday night game of the week on ESPN at 7:30.MLS Cup to be on NBC. All star game to go in 4 year rotation between MLS allstars and EPL, Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga Allstars.
* 32 teams in two leagues, MLS and MLS2. * Four 4-team divisions in each league, 4 games against each divisional opponent and 2 against non-division opponents (total 36 games). Postseason: * Division winners and 4 wild-card teams advance to MLS playoffs. Exception: last place in division may not advance to playoffs. Quarterfinal and semifinal rounds are home-and-away, second game at higher seed, no away goals rule. Final is one-off at neutral site. * Division winners advance to MLS2 playoffs: home-and-away semifinals, one-off championship game. * MLS2 division winners also play off home-and-away against last-place teams in corresponding MLS divisions. Winner is in MLS next season, loser is in MLS2 next season (anywhere from 0-4 promoted/relegated). Note that regions are locked. Possible team lineup: ATLANTIC Carolina (Raleigh-Durham) DC New England NJ Metrostars NY Philadelphia Richmond Rochester SOUTHERN Atlanta Birmingham Dallas Houston Miami Nashville Oklahoma Tampa Bay MIDWEST Chicago Cleveland Columbus Detroit Kansas City Milwaukee Minnesota St. Louis PACIFIC Colorado Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles (2nd club) Phoenix Portland San Diego San Jose Seattle
IIRC, Tulsa had some decent English players and won NASL Soccer Bowl '83. Even Jacksonville, Fl. had NASL MVP Mike Flanagan (from England). While you are mostly likely right regarding a Beckham (come to think of it he may never ever come to MLS) don't dismiss outright the fact that smaller cities will not be getting decent foreign players. More often than not this has more to do with the coach of a team wanting a certain type player.
As a Denverite, I hope that one of those Chicago's is supposed to be a Colorado. I know we're sucking so far this season, but don't relegate us yet!! And as a Birmingham, Ala., native, thanks for including us in your dream version of MLS to come instead of Atlanta!
Any person who does not have Phoenix as one of their cities should be shot. For those who dont know, Phoenix, at the lowest estimate, will have over 6.5 million people in the metro area by 2025, and over 13 by 2050, essentially doubling in size every 25 years. I think this would put it at the 4th largest metro area in the US. Besides this glaring fact, there is a huge Mexican population here. Diatribe over.. Los Angeles San Jose Seattle Phoenix Vegas (Tucson) KC Columbus Colorado Chicago Dallas Houston OKC New Eng-er-land NY/NJ NY DC Philly Rochester Miami Atlanta Single Table, (Supporters Shield, MLS Cup to take place throughout the season with all MLS teams, US Open Cup) And to complete my diatribe, I would recommend for everyone to think about what cities will be big in the future.
Very similar to the original thread starters proposal, but I would like 24 Teams with 6 in each division and a 42 game schedual. That's 6 games a month. I have thought long and hard about having a second division with another 24 teams, but the idea is kind of crazy. There would be one draft for the two "divisions" (lets call them MLS1 and MLS2), but MLS2 wouldn't get to start making picks until round three. MLS2 teams would not be allowed to sign "player developement" deals with MLS1 teams, and would have full rights to make trades with MLS1 teams. MLS2 would also have a much reduces salary cap (at what the league could afford). The MLS2 season would start before the MLS1 season, so that MLS2 play offs ended as MLS1 play offs began. The top 4 teams In MLS2 would get to play against seeds 1-4 in the MLS1, but the MLS2 teams would have home field. The idea is to find a way to make a league not "major league", but not AAA, and this is the best I could come up with.